My poor little baby

Just look at this little guy:


Every time I look in Shaggy'seyes, I fall in love with him all over again.

This dog has completely taken over our hearts.


And coincidentally, our house as well :)

We were not looking for another dog. In fact, Brian had told our daughter Jaina "NO!" several times in the past few months about adopting another dog. Alli is eleven years old and not very friendly towards most other dogs. It wouldn't be fair to her to make her change her lifestyle at this stage in the game.

However, fate intervened. Alli doesn't seem to mind our new addition nearly as much as we thought she would. I wouldn't go so far as to say she actually likes him, but she definitely tolerates him, which is a miracle in and of itself.


Jaina believes that all her dreams have come true. After a year of asking for a second dog, she finally has her wish.



We're still arguing about which family member Shaggy likes the best :)

And Jayce?

Well... he's a little timid around Shaggy. Our new dog has a lot of puppy in him still. He chases, he licks, and he nips. Hopefully puppy training classes will help with all of this.

Jayce has decided he likes Alli better. Which is great, since he's never paid Alli any attention at all.



Not quite sure how Alli feels about all this. Maybe she'll learn to like tolerate Jayce in turn!

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And now for some bad news....


I took Shaggy for his first vet appointment yesterday. He had been limping slightly ever since we found him. We figured maybe he got hit by a car or something? Maybe he had a previous injury that healed poorly?

Ugh. I wish it was that simple.

The x-rays showed a much more serious injury than the vet originally thought after his physical exam.

This is what an x-ray of normal hips look like:


I don't have an x-ray to show you that is similar to Shaggy's, despite me pouring over the internet to find one. Basically, his right leg has come out of his hip socket. We can feel the top of his femur bone jutting out. Its not something we can just pop back in (like if your shoulder or wrist comes out of socket). Enough damage has been done that they are going to have to surgically remove the bone from its position and fuse it back together the correct way.

There is no alternative. Well, there's always an alternative. We could drop him off at the local humane society where he may eventually be euthanized. Like I said, there's no alternative.

I had just come to grips with the extent of his injury and the prospect of surgery that I wasn't quite prepared for the vet to point out something else on the x-ray.

"And this is where he was shot..." showing me the little metal pieces of buckshot that the x-ray picked up.

That did it.

I completely lost it.

Someone shot this puppy. MY puppy. My family's puppy.


Who would do such a thing? I can't even fathom it. And what's worse? It was probably someone in the immediate area. Maybe not in my particular neighborhood, but in one of the surrounding ones. It makes my stomach sick to even think about it.

My poor little baby.

He sure is lucky to be alive. And we are so lucky to have him.

And this mantra is what Brian and I will be repeating to ourselves again and again and again each month as we pay off the whopping vet bill that will come to over a thousand dollars.

Because you really can't put a price on family, can you?

Shaggy is definitely family.

* "Shaggy is his official name. Brian still calls him Scruffy and I still call him Sparky. Sometimes we call him Scrappy, too. Poor confused little guy!

Comments

  1. What a great post! What a great dog!

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  2. The poor little guy! It looks like he hit the jackpot with your family! Sorry to hear about the vet bills though.

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  3. And as one who developed a rabid loyalty from working at Costco for 4 years, I can't think of any better place to put him than in a Kirkland Signature shredded cheese box.

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  4. omg your poor poor little baby! he is so lucky to have you and you are so lucky to have him! he looks like such a sweetheart and i know he thanks the puppy gods every day to have such a family full of love!

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  5. Well with pictures and words like that I am now in love with him too. ♥ I'm so happy he found you guys.

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  6. What a sweet post and what a lucky dog. You are right, you cannot put a price on family or the bond between a pet and his family. And, trust me, I feel your pain on the vet bills. Maybe they told you the good news from your x-rays (or what they told me when Cocoa was diagnosed with her ACL tear), he doesn't have hip dysplasia!

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  7. Aw...that is so sad! But I'm glad the little guy is bringing so much joy to your family!

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  8. that is so sad....but so wonderful that he has a new home with people to love him so :)

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  9. He's so adorable! Olivia is in LOVE with him from his pics. And I'm with you - I can't believe someone shot him.

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  10. He's so gorgeous! I can't believe he was shot - what sort of person would do that??

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  11. You guys are so great! We almost kept a lost dog but found another home for it. Now everyone is talking about getting one. Maybe Christmas???

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  12. oh my gosh, poor little guy. What a life :( Good thing he has your family now!

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  13. Oh, that breaks my heart! So glad he found his forever family! I don't understand the cruelty of people!

    I forgot to say this on your other post, but Mary Jane was quite creative of the stoners! I actually like it a lot, and if I were a pot head, I'd have named Butterbean that!

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